The present invention relates to selective time-locked medication dispensing devices, which may be used by individual patients and/or by medical supervisory personnel. More particularly, it relates to those medication dispensing devices, which have a software program which controls time intervals for dispensing medication, opening and locking medication compartments, and retrieving and displaying medication related information. Moreover, there is automatic notification to individuals, both internally through the system and/or through the Internet, regarding patient compliance, and further having capability to record and play back voice mail. The device also relates to those devices having interface with other computerized medical technology through serial and USB ports.
The current medication dispensing devices include those which are not time-locked, as well as those which are time-locked. Among those devices that are time-locked is the following:
A Med-time device from e-pill.com is a lockable unite that automatically beeps at designated times, and then rotates to open a compartment having the correct pills to take. To turn off the beeping all that is necessary is to pick up the dispenser and pur out the pills. The device automatically resets for the next medications. The medication is dispensed through an opening on a top of the device.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid prior art, the present invention system is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.
The present invention is a computer timed-locked medication container, which includes a container for holding medication. The container includes sidewalls, a partially open front, a back, a bottom, a top, at least one section extending from the partially open front to the back. Each section is sized and shaped to hold a plurality of compartments and each of the compartments is sized and shaped to hold at least one unit of medication. Each compartment has sidewalls, a bottom, a front, a back, opening-locking means for opening and locking at least one unit of medication in the compartment the compartment. There is a medication release button which opens the open-locking means in response to computer control and a pressing of the medication release button.
There is also a display means located on an outer surface of the container for displaying data that is either entered internally, retrieved from an internal medical database or an expert system, or retrieved from the Internet. In addition, there is an automatic message notifying means for automatically notifying individuals when the medication release button is not pressed after a preselected grace period following each of preselected times for dispensing the at least one unit of medication. The message notifying means may consist of writing a message on the display means or sending a message external to the device. Such external message may be an E-mail sent over the Internet either through serial connectors located on the device, through external modems, or wireless transmission.
The device also includes a medical database of drug related information in which the drug related information from the database is displayed on the display means and whereby search, retrieval and display of the medical database is controlled by a computer program. Such medical database may be expert systems such as The Physician""s Desk Reference. The computer program includes the functions of controlling the opening means, retrieval and display of the drug-related information, automatic message notification on non-compliance, and entering drug information on drug name and frequency.